Cause of death Heart attack Years active 1953-2001 Citizenship Filipino Education Primary education | Other names Mang Nardo Died July 31, 2001 Nationality Filipino Name Leonardo Sarao | |
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Full Name Leonardo Salvador Sarao Occupation Businessman and automotive designer | ||
Leonardo Salvador Sarao, Sr. (April 13, 1921-July 31, 2001) was the founder and owner of the Sarao Motors, a company known for designing, manufacturing and selling the jeepney, the most popular mode of transportation in the Philippines. He is not the first person to alter the surplus jeeps left behind by the U.S. Army from World War II, but he saw them as a business opportunity for mass transportation. He redesigned the surplus jeeps to increase its functionality by extending the body to accommodate at least twice the number of passengers and by putting some railings at the back and top for extra passengers to cling to, and for cargoes. He revolutionized a burgeoning industry and changed the life of generations of Filipinos.
Leonardo Sarao was awarded The Outstanding Filipino Award (TOFIL) in 1997 for Entrepreneurship. He started Sarao Motors from a borrowed PHP700. Though he only attained Grade 6 level of education because of poverty, he was able to make the company grow into a multimillion peso conglomerate.
He was a relative of Leonides Sarao Virata, a respected and distinguished Filipino economist served as Secretary of Trade and Industry and Chairman of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) during Marcos regime.